Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #220 Baptism, Obedience, and Opening the Heavens: A Call to Revival

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#220 Baptism, Obedience, and Opening the Heavens: A Call to Revival · The OneCry Podcast

0:17
Speaker0: Wide call for spiritual awakening. The goal, accelerating the movement of God
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Speaker0: through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
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Speaker0: Well, we're so glad that you're joining us today on the One Cry podcast.
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Speaker0: I'm Bill Eliff, and my buddy Kyle Reno is right here beside me virtually.
0:39
Speaker0: And uh and kyle i know the lord
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Speaker0: is doing so many things around the
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Speaker0: nation and one of the purposes of one
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Speaker0: cry is to help people know what's going on around the
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Speaker0: nation but then help people who are
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Speaker0: in the middle of revival know what to do
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Speaker0: how to walk with god how to take the next step and
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Speaker0: i and the lord's been showing you some stuff out of
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Speaker0: luke that uh i think is going to really be
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Speaker0: helpful to our folks so this will be something they
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Speaker0: they they'll want to listen to but also they'll want
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Speaker0: to share with a friend yeah so you want to you want to take some notes or write
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Speaker0: it down look at it in the scripture if you have your bible they're with you
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Speaker0: and uh because you'll want to you'll want to share this today so uh kyle walk
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Speaker0: us into this here from yeah yeah.
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Speaker1: Well you know context matters So I'll just set up a second. Luke 3, first 20 verses or so.
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Speaker1: You got the ministry of John the Baptist, who, Bill, I know, me and you love.
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Speaker1: What a wild man for the kingdom of God.
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Speaker1: Locusts eating, camel hair, skin wearing, you know, wild man that knew his role.
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Speaker1: I mean, he knew his role. His role was to call people to repentance and make
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Speaker1: them ready for the arrival of the Messiah. And he did it, man,
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Speaker1: with just anointing and power on his life, preparing the way.
2:01
Speaker1: And then there's this moment, and God just has revealed something to me,
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Speaker1: I feel like, in this text in Luke 3, 21 and 22, that's blown me away.
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Speaker1: One, it picks up in 21, it says, now when all the people were baptized,
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Speaker1: and this is what I want to just ask us to rightly evaluate for a second.
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Speaker1: Because there are a lot of people right now that are being baptized a lot.
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Speaker1: And for some reason, a lot of times we struggle with that.
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Speaker1: And this is what I want to say today, because comprehensively through the Scripture,
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Speaker1: when God is moving, the picture of baptism is always there in the Scripture.
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Speaker1: It's there. I mean, one of the things God showed me recently in Exodus,
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Speaker1: when he's bringing them out of bondage, moving them toward promised places,
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Speaker1: all commentators agree when he takes them through the Red Sea, right? Right.
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Speaker1: There's a picture of them moving through the water and they're coming out of
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Speaker1: something into something. Right. It was a it was a physical display.
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Speaker1: So even in the old covenant, theologians say, man, here's a picture of what
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Speaker1: we'll know in the new covenant in baptism.
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Speaker1: Well, that's not just all the places that that shows up time and time again.
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Speaker1: Here's John the Baptist's ministry, and it's a baptism of repentance.
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Speaker1: Right. And to be made ready for the coming of the Messiah. And then obviously
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Speaker1: we get into the new covenant.
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Speaker1: One of the first things that happens after the spirit of God comes upon the
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Speaker1: church and they boldly proclaim the finished work of Jesus Christ, what happens?
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Speaker1: And 3000 were baptized.
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Speaker1: And this is, this is what I just want to stop and say, listen,
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Speaker1: it's not the only indicator, but it is one of them that when God is moving in a person, that,
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Speaker1: In a people and in a nation, people are going to be baptized. They're going to be.
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Speaker1: And what I would ask, because, man, I know it's impossible to please God outside of faith.
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Speaker1: We should believe for a move of God that is marked by many people being baptized.
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Speaker1: We should believe.
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Speaker1: Here's the thing that got me, Bill, like convictionally. It's unbiblical.
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Speaker1: For us to not rightly believe for a move of God that is marked by people declaring
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Speaker1: through baptism that Jesus has saved them, set them free.
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Speaker1: And so to the critic of that are those that are skeptical. And I understand
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Speaker1: we got to we got to evaluate, make sure it's not emotionalism, all those things.
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Speaker1: But yet when the church started, the first things we get is 3000 people are
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Speaker1: baptized. in every awakening, movement, whatever label you want to stick on,
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Speaker1: that there are people being baptized.
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Speaker1: So just to stop a second and say, we should believe for people to be so caught
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Speaker1: up in the movement of God, come into a right understanding of the gospel of
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Speaker1: Jesus Christ, and then the immediate right step for us is for them to be baptized.
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Speaker1: Say that, and then this is, obviously you've read this, seen this before,
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Speaker1: It says, and when people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized.
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Speaker1: So you've got to imagine saying, here's God in skin stepping into the water
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Speaker1: toward John the Baptist.
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Speaker1: We know in the John account, John the Baptist is saying, behold,
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Speaker1: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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Speaker1: And what Jesus does in this moment, stepping toward him, says, I'm next.
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Speaker1: We know that john the baptist thinks that's
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Speaker1: a bad idea because in matthew 3 in this
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Speaker1: account he says he would have prevented him from that says i need to be baptized
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Speaker1: by you awesome moment of humility john the baptist is like hey i don't i don't
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Speaker1: deserve to untie your sandal let alone submerge you under the water and he says
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Speaker1: i i i don't i don't need you need to baptize me but then jesus says,
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Speaker1: no, no, no, John, you don't get it.
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Speaker1: Jesus answered them. Let it be so. He says, let it be so now.
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Speaker1: Let it be so now. For thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness.
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Speaker1: What Jesus says is, hey, I'm not doing this out of repentance.
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Speaker1: I don't have no need. I'm doing it because it's right.
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Speaker1: I'm doing it because it's right he says let it be so now
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Speaker1: And I would just say to us, we should believe for a movement of God that where
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Speaker1: people respond right now.
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Speaker1: Right now. Why? Because it's right. Because it's the right move.
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Speaker1: It's the right move in light of fulfilling all righteousness for those personally
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Speaker1: that are seeing people come to know Christ.
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Speaker1: So here's my encouragement and what we call our church to. We want to hear, we'll simplify it.
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Speaker1: We want to hear your story. And we want to help you take this step. That's it.
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Speaker1: We shouldn't overcomplicate it. We want to hear your story.
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Speaker1: We want to help you take that step. And if that's right now, it's right now.
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Speaker1: And we should be a people that believe that way.
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Speaker1: And here's the truth, Bill. We know this. That's happening right now. That is happening.
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Speaker1: So Jesus is obeying in that moment. And obedience matters.
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Speaker1: Obedience matters. But here's the thing. And if you didn't tell me about this,
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Speaker1: Bill, all the years we've known each other, shame on you.
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Speaker1: Because let's say it goes and he was baptized in verse 21 and was praying.
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Speaker1: It says so I want you to imagine the context. Jesus stepping into the water.
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Speaker1: He's he's looking into the eyes of John the Baptist, said, I'm going to do this
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Speaker1: because this fulfills all righteousness. But that's not the only conversation
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Speaker1: Jesus was having in this moment of obedience.
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Speaker1: It obviously so much so that Luke in the detailed account says in the moment
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Speaker1: in which Jesus was being baptized, he was praying to the father.
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Speaker1: He was because listen, because obedience is based out of relationship.
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Speaker1: And what Jesus is displaying in this moment hey father I'm doing this for you
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Speaker1: I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this, Father, so that they might see obedience modeled in this.
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Speaker1: He was doing it out of this communion with the Lord. So I simplify it because
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Speaker1: I'm a simple guy in my mind.
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Speaker1: Jesus is showing us two things that will mark a move of God,
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Speaker1: people that will obey and people that will pray.
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Speaker1: People that will obey, people that will pray. And this is what I love, man.
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Speaker1: All of heaven can't help themselves anymore.
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Speaker1: So the response to this, Jesus, and we know coming out of this moment,
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Speaker1: temptations ahead of him, the inauguration of his ministry.
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Speaker1: Like, here we go. But there is a response from heaven in this moment after Jesus
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Speaker1: models perfectly obedience and praying. It says, and the heavens were opened.
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Speaker1: The heavens were opened. Man, we know this, Bill.
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Speaker1: There's a few things in Scripture that shows us that position us for an open heaven.
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Speaker1: One martyred them, Stephen, looking in the moment, he's being martyred for the faith.
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Speaker1: It says, I see the Son of Man, Son of God, standing at the right hand of the
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Speaker1: Father. Well, you can just know when somebody's dying for the faith,
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Speaker1: God opens the heavens over that place.
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Speaker1: Right. That welcomes them home.
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Speaker1: We also see, and hey, this is a truth if you like it or not,
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Speaker1: that first fruits returning the tithe, that there's something about that that opens up the heavens.
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Speaker1: It's something like, hey, God, we're not withholding from you. We're returning to you.
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Speaker1: But in this moment, I would say what we've just watched in Jesus's life is obedience and praying.
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Speaker1: That combination of that right there, that there's something about it that it
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Speaker1: rendered the heavens in such a way that there was.
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Speaker1: And I know, Bill, we've talked about the Celtics used to say there was there was just thin air.
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Speaker1: There was there was no distance between heaven and right there in that moment.
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Speaker1: So much so imagine this so much so that Luke is accounting for that,
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Speaker1: that the heavens were opened.
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Speaker1: And so I would encourage us, man, listen, let's call our people and also the
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Speaker1: examples of this, that as we obey and as we pray, it positions us for God to do what we can't do,
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Speaker1: for him to open the heavens. Yet that's not the end of it.
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Speaker1: Heavens are opened in that moment. And it continues to say, and the Holy Spirit
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Speaker1: descended on him in bodily form like a dove. Bigger teaching here.
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Speaker1: We know that this is a moment. It's not that he had lost communion or fellowship with the Spirit of God,
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Speaker1: but an anointing was coming upon Jesus in this, an empowering for what he's
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Speaker1: going to fulfill as a man full of the Spirit,
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Speaker1: as a man in the power of the Spirit.
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Speaker1: And the beauty of this is that Jesus was the first,
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Speaker1: And the only that the Spirit could descend upon and that He would never do anything
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Speaker1: in any manner to quench the Spirit in such a way that the Spirit would have to leave.
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Speaker1: He was coming to rest upon Him because of His holiness.
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Speaker1: And if that's not enough, and then as if God couldn't handle anymore,
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Speaker1: the Father says in that moment, Heaven's open,
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Speaker1: Spirit descending, and with a voice from heaven came, you're my beloved Son,
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Speaker1: with whom I am well pleased.
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Speaker1: Man, just to our listeners today, in two verses of Scripture,
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Speaker1: you got the fullness of the Godhead displayed.
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Speaker1: You got the Son of God. You got the Spirit of God. You got the voice of God the Father.
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Speaker1: And it makes you say, man, what happened in this moment for all of this to come colliding?
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Speaker1: Well, Jesus obeyed, fulfilled all righteousness and taking the next right step. And he was praying.
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Speaker1: And he was praying. And then, and Bill, isn't that true when revival comes?
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Speaker0: Yeah, absolutely. I tell you, I'm sitting here trying to restrain myself.
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Speaker0: I mean, literally, like five times I've wanted to interrupt you and say, wow.
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Speaker0: Yeah. Just wow. I mean, wow at the Son of God humbling himself to do something
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Speaker0: that he didn't have to do just to model it for us and to please his Father.
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Speaker0: You know, baptism is humbling.
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Speaker0: That's why people, a lot of people don't follow the Lord in baptism because
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Speaker0: they're just so stinking proud.
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Speaker0: They don't want to say, I don't want to go into the water and get my hair wet
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Speaker0: and look like a, you know, and so, but it's humbling.
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Speaker0: And he humbled himself. That was part of this obedience in all things.
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Speaker0: And he humbled himself because he was talking to his father and his father said,
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Speaker0: go do that to fulfill all righteousness. OK.
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Speaker0: You know, a guy called me Saturday, a pastor friend of mine,
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Speaker0: young guy, and he ministers in a college town.
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Speaker0: And he said, Bill, I'm we're having a college day.
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Speaker0: College is coming back on campus. And he said, we're having a student day.
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Speaker0: And he said, in our church, and I'm expecting about 200 students on this night,
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Speaker0: and I'm thinking about opening it up for them to come to Christ,
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Speaker0: of course, but to spontaneous baptism.
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Speaker0: Do you think that would be okay?
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Speaker0: And I said to him, well, study the Bible.
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Speaker0: There are 13, I think this is right, 13 indications of people being baptized in the Bible.
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Speaker0: Every one of them was immediate.
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Speaker0: Every one that got saved and immediately they were baptized.
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Speaker0: Somehow we've disconnected from that and said, well, we got to take people to
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Speaker0: this long process where we make sure we teach. You know, Jesus didn't do that.
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Speaker0: John the Baptist didn't do that. Yeah, the apostles.
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Speaker1: Exactly right.
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Speaker0: I mean, they didn't. You know, here the day of Pentecost and 3,000 were baptized,
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Speaker0: were saved and baptized. And so we have made this more complicated.
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Speaker0: And in baptism, I have found that people who delay following the Lord in that
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Speaker0: obedience step have a struggle the rest of their life until they take what should
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Speaker0: have been their first step. That's right.
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Speaker0: And that is to proclaim to the world in a humbling way, in a public way,
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Speaker0: I'm a follower of Christ.
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Speaker1: That's right.
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Speaker0: And so this is so good. And I tell you, the world needs to hear this right now
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Speaker0: in this time of revival because a lot of people are coming to Christ.
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Speaker0: There are a lot of pastors who are afraid to just baptize people.
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Speaker0: And we should do it. But not only should we do it, we should expect it.
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Speaker0: Just like you said, there should be faith to believe.
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Speaker0: We ought to get the baptistry ready, right? If you're in a church,
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Speaker0: you ought to have it warmed up and ready to go at any moment.
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Speaker0: And we ought to be willing to, you know, baptize in a creek over here if somebody gets saved.
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Speaker0: And there's the authority of the church. The church is the one that has to listen
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Speaker0: to that testimony and then to do the act of baptism.
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Speaker0: I get all of that. I understand that very much so. But the immediate obedience
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Speaker0: of doing this, of just praying and obeying man, I mean, that's just a beautiful thought.
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Speaker1: Well, you know, and the truth, Bill, too, religion always makes something harder. Yeah, that's right.
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Speaker0: And demands more.
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Speaker1: It demands more. And that's just not true of how what we see here,
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Speaker1: what we see across the—and I agree. Here's the thing that you always delay.
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Speaker1: If we nurture an environment that enables delayed obedience,
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Speaker1: what we're really doing is enabling disobedience. Yeah.
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Speaker1: Instead of going, hey, we just want to help you. And in fact,
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Speaker1: and that's the part you just said it.
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Speaker1: What God is saying to me is that, Kyle, I want you to believe the Bible.
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Speaker1: I want you to believe the Bible. And the Bible shows me people getting saved
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Speaker1: and baptized. So I'm going to leave the Bible.
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Speaker1: I'm going to believe it. And at some point, to courageously live like God still works that way.
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Speaker0: You know, I've always felt, I've told young pastors,
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Speaker0: When you're preaching and God gives you a word and you preach,
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Speaker0: give people an opportunity to respond.
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Speaker0: Because if you don't, and you just said it in a way I've never thought of it,
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Speaker0: I've always taught delayed obedience is not obedience at all.
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Speaker0: And what it is is disobedience. So we're training them in disobedience.
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Speaker0: When we say there may be somebody in this room, you need to go and clear your conscience.
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Speaker0: With. And we don't give them an opportunity to do it.
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Speaker0: But if we say, maybe you need to do that right now, we're encouraging you to
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Speaker0: do it. And here's the way to do it.
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Speaker0: Well, we're helping them, you know, for it to be easier to obey what the Lord
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Speaker0: is telling them to do. And we ought to do that at every turn.
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Speaker0: What a word, man. And a real needed word at this time.
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Speaker0: And Kyle, would you just take a minute because I think there are people who
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Speaker0: are hearing this right now who need to go to their pastor or an elder in their church and just say,
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Speaker0: hey, I've never been baptized.
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Speaker0: Or I've never been biblically baptized. Maybe I made some decision,
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Speaker0: but then I came to Christ later.
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Speaker0: And now I need to be baptized since I became a Christian, or whatever it is.
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Speaker0: There are a lot of people I think they're hearing today that need to take the step of baptism.
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Speaker0: There are a lot of us as leaders who need to start believing God for obedience
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Speaker0: in this area and making it accessible to people.
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Speaker0: So would you pray for us that God would have that result from hearing this today?
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Speaker1: Yeah. So, Lord, I do pray, even as we come.
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Speaker1: And I would encourage our listeners just to come before the Lord in faith right now.
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Speaker1: Lord, would you would you help each of us to know what's the next right step
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Speaker1: in light of following you and specific to those that, you know,
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Speaker1: and they know now they need to wade into the water with you that I'm asking for the courage to obey.
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Speaker1: That's right. I'm going to ask for a testimony, Lord, of somebody that drives
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Speaker1: to the church today, looks in their pastor's eyes and say, I've waited too long.
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Speaker1: Would you baptize me today?
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Speaker1: And I just I pray you do that. And then I pray for those of us in this moment where you are moving.
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Speaker1: God, I pray when we hear of the three or four that spontaneously responded and
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Speaker1: were baptized or the 300 that were baptized, that it would build our faith,
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Speaker1: that it wouldn't awaken in us a skepticism, but a right gratitude and belief
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Speaker1: for moments or thousands. I think about the collective.
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Speaker1: Lord, you see every week those that are taking that next right step.
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Speaker1: So help us to believe for that as leaders. And God, I pray for him personally. I pray for Bill.
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Speaker1: I pray that we would be the kind of people that they could say,
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Speaker1: you know what they're going to do?
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Speaker1: They're going to pray and obey. They're going to pray and obey.
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Speaker1: And then, Lord, I ask, would you do the thing that we can't do?
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Speaker1: Would you open up the heavens?
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Speaker0: Amen.
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Speaker1: Would you, Spirit of God, descend upon us, Lord?
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Speaker1: Would you, Father, speak to us in such a way that people would have to take
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Speaker1: account, much like Luke did. He said, I'm going to write this down.
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Speaker1: He heard these stories communicated to him more.
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Speaker1: So do that in a way that glorifies your name. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Speaker0: Amen. Amen.
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Speaker0: Well, Kyle, thanks for that. That's just so beautiful today and succinct and
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Speaker0: right on the money and what we need to hear for such a time as this.
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Speaker0: And well, let's pray for the movement of God, that the testimony,
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Speaker0: the visible testimony of tens of thousands and even millions of people coming
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Speaker0: to Christ and following in believers baptism would stimulate the movement of God. would accelerate.
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Speaker0: You know, Jonathan Edwards said in Time's Revival, what happens is God accelerates his work.
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Speaker0: He puts the pedal to the metal, as we used to say.
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Speaker0: So let's pray, God, accelerate your work in our day and open the windows of heaven.
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Speaker0: So grateful you joined us. I'm glad you heard this today. I want to encourage
22:37
Speaker0: you to tell somebody about it.
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Speaker0: You may have somebody that's literally wrestling with this very issue right now.
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Speaker0: Maybe it's some person who's come to faith that hasn't been baptized.
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Speaker0: Or maybe it's some leader who just struggles with the whole issue of us baptizing
22:54
Speaker0: people instantly, although that's exactly what the Bible illustrates.
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Speaker0: Let them know about this podcast and get it into their hands.
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Speaker0: And then join us next week. We're going to keep talking about good stuff and
23:09
Speaker0: that will just stimulate your faith, particularly in these moments of spiritual awakening.
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Speaker0: Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.